Panthers at Capitals: How to Watch, Lines, Betting Odds, Goalies

The top two teams in the NHL’s Eastern Conference square off tonight when the Florida Panthers take on the host Washington Capitals.

The Panthers hold a 3-point lead on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic; the Capitals are up 7 on Carolina in the Metropolitan.

The way things look right now, the only way these two would meet in the playoffs would be if they both get to the Eastern Conference finals.

“Everyone is testing now. You’re starting to measure a little bit,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I’ve never liked the [term] ‘measuring stick game’ because it’s one game. You might look completely different a week later. It is going to be hard and fast. Their systems are almost identical to ours. We may do one or two things differently, and their not major things, but we’re almost identical in the way we play.

“It’ll be fast, physical; they have some big men. It’s going to be a good hockey game.’’

The Capitals certainly would like to get things going again before the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off break having lost three of their past four coming into tonight’s game.

Florida, as Maurice pointed out a few times at the end of the team’s previous road trip, had been playing .500 hockey for about a month before going 3-0 on its recent homestand.

“Our first periods have been very strong, going back to the game in L.A. when we took a 1-0 lead,’’ Maurice said. “In the past three games, our first has been very strong. … I think it suggests that we have a little more jump, a little more energy. We’re coming off a back-to-back, so I don’t know that we have a full tank, but you usually don’t in this league anyway.’’

The Panthers have outscored their opponents 14-4 during this current winning streak.

“I loved seeing Carter get going the last game, that was fun to watch,” said Nate Schmidt, who started his NHL career with the Capitals before going to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 Expansion Draft.

“This is two teams atop of the conference. It’s going to be a fun game.”

NOTES: PANTHERS @ CAPITALS

• The Panthers will again be without Mackie Samoskevich due to an illness. Samoskevich was back with the team and skated Tuesday, with Maurice saying he should be back Thursday in St. Louis.
• How to Watch: Tonight’s game is back on local TV. The game can also be streamed on Panthers+ locally and ESPN+ nationally.
• Starting Goalies: The Panthers will have Sergei Bobrovsky back in net; Logan Thompson starts for the Capitals.
• NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are slight favorites on the money line (-120) at the local book. To win with the Panthers, a $120 bet pays $100.

ON DECK: GAME No. 55

FLORIDA PANTHERS at WASHINGTON CAPITALS

• When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Capital One Arena, Washington
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-120); Puck line (-1.5, +195); Over/Under 6 (+195/-275)
• This Season (Capitals Lead 1-0) — At Washington: Tuesday; March 22. At Florida: Capitals 4 Panthers 1 (Nov. 25).
• Last Season: Panthers won 3-0
• All-time Regular Season Series: Washington leads 67-48-13, 9 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday at St. Louis Blues, 8 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (32-19-3) LINES

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

70 Jesper Boqvist // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 17 Evan Rodrigues

10 A.J. Greer // 94 Tomas Nosek // 12 Jonah Gadjovich

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

88 Nate Schmidt // 26 Uvis Balinskis

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

30 Spencer Knight

Scratched: None

Injured: Mackie Samoskevich (illness)

PROJECTED WASHINGTON CAPITALS (34-11-7) LINES

8 Alex Ovechkin // 17 Dylan Strome // 43 Tom Wilson

21 Aliaksei Protas // 80 Pierre-Luc Dubois // 24 Connor McMichael

16 Taylor Raddysh // 20 Lars Eller // 53 Ethen Frank

22 Brandon Duhaime // 26 Nic Dowd // 88 Andrew Mangiapane

38 Rasmus Sandin // 74 John Carlson

42 Martin Fehervary // 3 Matt Roy

6 Jakob Chychrun // 57 Trevor van Riemsdyk

48 Logan Thompson

79 Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev, Jakub Vrana

Injured: Sonny Milano (upper body)